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Common constitutional defectsEveryone has the right to physical, mental and spiritual development.But all constitutions have been written in such a way that they do notensure the all-round welfare of all citizens. A constitution should befair and just. The least bias on the part of the framers towards anyparticular ethnic, linguistic or religious group may undermine theunity and solidarity of the concerning country and thus disturb thepeace and prosperity of the society as a whole.Judged from this perspective some of the defects of nationalconstitutions are easily discernible. Many countries require a newconstitution to establish unity in diversity in a multi- lingual,multi-social and multi-national country. While drafting theconstitution of a country the framers should keep in mind thepopulation structure of the concerning country. The population of manycountries is now a blended population of, for example, the Austric,Mongolian, Negroid and Aryan races. But national constitutions, due toinherent defects, have not helped establish social amity, culturallegacy, equality and unity among these races. As a result fissiparoustendencies have developed in the country.There are several fiscal and psychological loopholes in many nationalconstitutions.The fiscal loopholes include the following. First, there is no check onunbarred capitalist exploitation. This is because the leaders of theindependence struggles did not give any economic sentiment. For example, in India, the only sentiment was an anti- British sentiment.Thus the independence struggle was only a political movement and not aneconomic movement. After 1947 instead of white exploitation brownexploitation came up. So, 1947 only brought capitalist politicalliberty but not economic freedom. As a result unbarred economicexploitation continues today. Secondly, the constitution gives noguarantee for increasing the purchasing capacity of every individual.Thirdly, the president has no constitutional power to check financialor fiscal matters. A few business houses control the national economyof many countries, eg through influences through some chambers of commerce. The president has no constitutional power to check either theprice level or the level of exploitation. Neither the president nor theprime minister can check these. Fourthly, there is no provision for inter-block planning for development. Fifthly, no clear concept of balanced economy is found.The psychological loopholes in national constitutions include thefollowing.The first is the imposition of national languages which are flawed. For example, in India English imperialism has been followed by Hindiimperialism. Hindi is a regional language. The selection of one suchregional language as the official language adversely affects thepsychology of other non-Hindi-speaking people. As the consequence of such a defective language policy in the constitution, thenon-Hindi-speaking people face unequal competition at the nationallevel and they are forced to use a language, either Hindi or English,which is not their natural language. Hence they are relegated to "B
class" citizens. No regional languages should be selected as anofficial language in a multi-national, multi-linguistic andmulti-cultural country. Such a selection would affect the minds of other language speaking people. A regional language should not be soused. Even if a good language it should not be forcibly imposed onothers.Imposition should not be done. The spirit of secularism provides equalscope and equal avenues to all for the maximum psycho-social-economicaldevelopment of every individual.Looking at India again. Sanskrit may be the national language of India- even if not spoken. It is the grandmother of almost all the modernlanguages of India and has a great influence on the languages of India.It may take 5, 10, 50 or 100 years to take this language to all people.Roman script should be used for the language, as Samskrta has no scriptof its own. All groups of people including linguists of India shouldget together and decide this controversial matter.The second psychological loophole is that there are several disparitiesin the law. The constitutions of many nations proclaim that all areequal in the eye of the law. But in practice, this principle is notfollowed, and as a result disparity is growing in the arena of law and justice. Such disparity is adversely affecting the different groups of people in the country. For example, in India there are disparitiesbetween the Hindu Code and the Muslim Code. Hindu women and Muslimwomen, although they are all Indian citizens, do not get equaladvantages in law. In Hindu law, men cannot have more than one wife butunder Muslim law men can have two, three, four, etc, wives. Both Hinduwives and husbands have to go to get a divorce, but Muslim men can say"Talak, talak, talak" and divorce their wife. Thus Muslim men don'thave to go to court to secure a divorce. Moreover Muslim men candivorce their wives but Muslim women cannot divorce their husbands.Also it is not necessary for Muslim men to give any reason for their divorce.Disparity in the eye of the law is creating all these problems. Theroot of all these evils lies in the psychological loopholes of theconstitution. Why are constitutions allowing this - different codes tostand side by side? Let there be only one code. This Code should bebased on cardinal human values, with a universal approach andneo-Humanistic spirit. Then only equality before the law can beestablished in practice, and equal protection of the law for all can beguaranteed. So the constitutions should remove the psychologicalloopholes by eradicating existing disparities in the eye of the law.The third psychological loophole is that there is no law against theindiscriminate destruction of flora and fauna due to the absence of Neo-humanistic sentiment. In the Cosmic Family of the Universe, humans,animals, plants, and inanimate objects exist together and maintain aharmonious balance. However, human beings, because of their superior intellect, are indiscriminately destroying plants and animals for their own narrow, selfish ends. In the constitutions, there is no provisionfor the safeguard of the plants and animals. In a constitution, thereshould be safeguards for the lives of plants and animals. The absenceof such provisions in the constitution creates psychological loopholes,
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Common Constitutional Defects
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| Upload Date: | 04/05/2009 |
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